A really stupid post. But it's true!

Sometimes things are almost too good to be true.

Today, less than 24 hours after complaining in my PiA report about my total inability to find a decent bag in Chiang Mai, I was climbing after work when my friend Ben came by the office. After a few seconds of hellos, he asked me:

"Are you looking to buy a bag, by any chance?"

"Have you been reading my blog?" I asked.

Ben owns a beautiful, 1-year old Patagonia messenger bag that has a separate, padded pocket for a laptop and an extra strap to secure the bag when you're on a bike. It is big enough to hold a notebook and a change of clothes, but still smaller than my backpack. It is exactly (EXACTLY!) what I have been looking for.

Ben had, in fact, not been reading my blog. Ben, like some of my female friends (and I think my Mom would say my Dad, also), has a bag problem. He loves bags, and buying new bags. He even says he buys too many purses for his girlfriend. He thinks he has about twelve backpacks.

So Ben is purging some of his less-loved bags. And I happen to be standing in the right spot at the right time to hold back his hair.

On Friday, we're making it official, and I will finally be able to stop using my hated bag that causes me nothing but stress because the shoulder strap likes to unbuckle itself when I walk around or drive my motorbike.

My life will be complete.